A Rose By The River
by AwesomePossum123
Summary: The Doctor and River are running from the Silence, but need to get help from Rose Tyler and her new husband, John Smith. Jealousy and feelings are revealed when River and Rose realize, to some extent, they're both the Doctor's wife.
1. Introduction

Author's note: This story takes place after season six. Has Doomsday/Journey's End spoilers and very minor spoilers for A Good Man Goes To War/The Wedding of River Song.

P.S. Twelfth Doctor announcement in four hours for me! Unbelievably excited!

* * *

River Song and the Doctor were running, faster than they ever had before. "Please don't let them catch me," River cried out to him, "I don't want to hurt you again, I love you."

"I will never let them take you," The Time-Lord assured, looking back to see if the Silence were still following them.

"Doctor, I-" River began, tears streaming down her face when she noticed more tally marks on her arm.

"River. They won't take you. Now come on, the TARDIS is right around this corner."

They ran into the ship and immediately knew they would have to get away fast. "Where can we go that's safe from them?!" River asked.

"I know one place," The Doctor said. "But it's dangerous."

River nodded, and watched as he set the coordinates for the ship. The TARDIS lurched and shook like mad, as he pulled levers and looked at screens. "Doctor... Where are we going?" The ship stopped and he gave her a huge grin and gestured for the door. She walked out and saw they were in Cardiff, on Earth. "Sweetie," She said, "We're on Earth," She walked back inside the ship to take them somewhere else.

"River, wait, take another look!" He exclaimed. "We're in a parallel world, the Silence aren't here."

"But... How?!" She said, pulling out some grass and looking at it closely. "You're right, but why here? Do you know someone around here?"

"You could... Say that," He muttered.

"I know everyone from your past, Doctor, so who lives here?"

He looked away and absent-mindedly fixed his bow-tie. He pulled out his sonic screwdriver, twirled around, and checked the readings. "This way!"

River laughed to herself. 'This crazy Time-Lord will never cease to surprise me,' She thought.

She followed him to a busy road, and he twirled around with his screwdriver again. "Oh..." He muttered, hitting the device.

"What is it?" River asked, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"They live in Canada now... Back to the TARDIS!" He exclaimed, running excitedly back to the ship.

"Who?!" River groaned, "The TARDIS is that way, Doctor," She pointed.

He spun around, grabbed her hand, and ran in the direction she pointed. "Right. Knew that."

When they arrived in Canada, they were surprised to find themselves in the middle of the woods. "Who would live here?" River asked. He just grinned again and ran towards a cottage, spotting several animals on the way. The cottage had stone walls and a chimney at the top, it was pretty large, but there were no other buildings in sight. It didn't even have a drive way or a car. "Just tell me wh-"

Suddenly, the door to the cottage swung open and a girl with straight blonde hair stood there. She was holding a musket, pointing it at River and the Doctor. "Who are you?! And what have you done with the Doctor?!" They both stood, mouths agape staring at the girl. "Don't play dumb with me, I heard the noise of the ship! And I will uh, shoot!"

"R...Rose?" The Doctor murmured.

"How do you know my name? My husband will be back soon and he will kill both of you if you hurt me!"

"Rose... It's me, I'm the Doctor," Tears of joy streamed down the Doctor's face.

Rose put down the musket and approached him cautiously. "Prove it."

"I... We defeated the Slitheen in Downing Street, we went to the New New York hospital together and stopped the cats... Or should I say New New New New-"

"It.. Is you..." Rose sniffled, closing the distance between them and kissing him passionately.

"Rose... My precious Rose."

River stood there awkwardly, a stab of jealousy hitting her. Who was this girl? Why had the Doctor never mentioned her before?

"You've regenerated," Rose said quietly, "How?"

"It's a long story," He stroked her hair. "Oh... Where is um... Me?" He asked.

"John is out getting groceries, he should be back any minute. Come on inside," Rose said, wiping away her tears.

"I'm River Song," River extended her hand to Rose, "Archaeologist."

"You're his new companion, eh?" Rose said, shaking her hand.

"Bit more than that really," She winked, and the Doctor blushed.

They walked inside the house and the Doctor commented, "Looks bigger on the inside." The foyer of the house had a small fireplace and a comfy looking tan couch. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, illuminating all of it. Rose led them through a door and into a dining room, which had a similar chandelier and an ornate glass table with eight chairs.

Rose laughed and sat them down at the posh table. "Nice place isn't it?" Rose said, preparing tea. "John didn't like it at first but when we visited he changed his mind."

"Who exactly is John?" River whispered to the Doctor.

"It's a bit confusing," He muttered.

"That must be him," Rose said happily, hearing a car pull in. "I'd better go help him carry the groceries in." Rose walked out of the room to help her husband.

"Before I met you, Rose was my companion, and well, it's a long story, but I had a human clone of me made, and he went into a parallel universe with Rose and they well, got married apparently."

River nodded deciding not to ask questions, "Where can I get a clone of you?" She winked.

He flushed bright red, "Um... Ah, well. He was made through a metacr-"

"I'm kidding, why would I need a clone when I have the real you?" River leaned in close to him. He could feel her breathe on his neck.

"Er, uh," He ran a hand through his hair nervously.

At that moment John and Rose walked into the room, hand in hand.

"Hello, me! Hello River!" John said, hugging them both.

"Although..." River whispered into the Time-Lord's ear, "You do look good in that form."

"So, Doctor," Rose began, "Why did you come here in the first place? Did something happen?"

"You could say that, we need some help," He said.

"Me and my husband are being chased," River said.

Rose's eyes widened, "Doctor, you got married?" The question came out ruder than Rose had intended.

"Well, um, yes, and I love River, but I also love you," He looked at John's disapproving glare, "Well when I say I love you I mean you married my clone and I do love you but then I met River and I love her, and well you an-"

"Doctor," River said, pulling him close.

"Huh?" He said, shivering at her touch.

"Shut up," River and Rose said simultaneously to him.

He nodded, "Right, shut up, I can do that."


	2. Rose Meets The Silence

"Anyways, the Silence are chasing us, we were running from them and ended up here," River said.

"Who are the Silence?" Rose asked.

"Well, they're pretty much a religious order, but when you look away from them, you instantly forget you saw them," The Doctor said, putting his feet up on the table.

"Then how do you fight them?"

"When we see them, we put a black tally mark on our arm, and so when you forget and see the mark, you know they're there."

"And... Are they in our world?" Rose asked, looking at John.

"No," The Time-Lord said.

"Are you sure?"

"No." The Doctor's face fell and River looked at him with fear in her eyes.

"How can we help?" John said.

"Well... We need to find someone on the inside of the Silence... Do you have a computer I could use?" He asked Rose.

"Yeah, follow me," She said, leading him to another room and shutting the door behind her. "I'm really glad you're back, Doctor."

"It's great seeing you again... I'm glad you and me- I mean John, are happy."

He sat at a desk and pulled up the screen of a laptop. He began researching names when he felt Rose's hands on his hair. "Your eyes are different."

He got up and looked at her solemnly. "Different how?"

"Older," She said, lowering her hands and caressing his cheek now. "So much older."

"Rose..." He said, but trailed off, for once having no idea where he was going with the sentence.

She pulled him even closer and kissed his lips lightly. "When you were outside... I knew... I could tell it was you."

"Rose we ca-"

"Just shut up for once will you?" She kissed him again, with more hunger than before. "My Doctor... My precious Doctor... You really haven't changed..."

He started to pull away when the door opened and John and River walked inside. "Have you found anything ye-" River said, then saw what her Doctor and Rose had been doing instead of research. John also was surprised, his mouth open.

"John it's.." Rose said, starting to cry.

"It's not her fault, it was me, I kissed her. I'm sorry River," The Doctor blurted out, taking the blame from Rose.

River approached the Time-Lord and slapped him across his face, as he had expected. She walked out of the house, probably to go back to the TARDIS. John also walked out of the room, but only to go into he and Rose's bedroom. "You shouldn't have taken the blame," Rose whispered, then went to follow her husband.

The Doctor sat back in the desk chair and buried his head in his hands. He had no idea about what he should do. When he decided to come here, he didn't imagine the reunion would have this much drama. 'Humans,' He thought, 'I'm always underestimating them, aren't I?'

Suddenly he heard a shout from outside. "RIVER!" He yelled, bursting out the front door of the house and searching for her. He ran towards the TARDIS and saw the key to the ship laying on the ground right in front of the door. "Oh no... River..."

* * *

Rose entered her room to see her husband crying on their bed. "I'm so sorry, John."

"It's okay Rose, it was the ignorant version of myself who kissed you."

Rose bit her tongue hard for two reasons, the fact he called the Doctor ignorant, and the remembrance that she had been the one to kiss the Time-Lord. "I kissed him first."

"You what?..." John looked at her, his eyes wide.

"I kissed him. He was the one who pulled away. He lied because he loves me."

"Am I not enough for you Rose? Was I just a little rebound because you lost _him?_ I'm my own person, you know! I don't have the exact same thoughts as him... I'm so stupid! I should be sorry, Rose. I shouldn't even exist in this world. I shouldn't exist in any world! This is my fault..."

"John... It's not-"

"That's not even my name!" He cried.

She spoke gently to him. "I kissed him and thought it was okay because I thought he was you, but you're right, he's not. The only thing you two have in common is that you keep blaming yourself for everything!"

They heard a scream from outside the house and ran outside to investigate. Ahead of them, they saw the Doctor running into the woods. "What happened?" John asked, seeing the Time-Lord on the ground in front of the police box, clutching a key.

"River... She's gone... DAMNIT!" The Doctor shouted, kicking his ship, angry tears streaming down his face. "I told her... I promised her... The Silence would never ever get to her..."

"It could have been anything, why would you think it's the Silence?!" Rose asked, comforting him.

He blinked through his hot tears and whispered, "Look at yourself."

Rose looked down to see black tally marks all over her body, on her legs, arms, and hands. "But how..." She looked up slowly to see a monster towering over her.

"Rose Tyler," It hissed, "The Bad Wolf."

* * *

Author's Note: Sorry for the shortish chapter! I like to leave it with a cliffhanger :P


	3. Lit-Up Palms

"What are you?..." Rose said, staring at the tall, gray creature towering over her.

"Get away from her," John and the Doctor said at the same time, both their voices icy.

"Stop..." Rose started crawling backwards, trying to escape like a fox from a trap. She also reached out slowly and marked her hand with a Sharpie pen. John did the same, and the Doctor pushed his palm to record the encounter.

"You will come with us, Bad Wolf," It reached out its scaly hand for her. She couldn't detect anything in the creature's eyes. No pity, no anger, no hatred, just pure intent. Intent to harm her. John ran forward to help her, but it was too late. The Silence had touched her, and she was gone completely.

"Hey, where'd Rose go?" John asked, forgetting about the creature they had just seen. Then he looked down at his hand and saw a black tally mark on it.

The Doctor saw that his palm was lit up. He pushed it and a recording played. 'Get away from her. Stop. You will come with us, Bad Wolf.' It ended. "Oh no... They took Rose..." The Doctor mumbled, leaping into his TARDIS.

"Where is she?!" John asked.

"Wait!" The Time-Lord shook his head, he needed to focus. What was it Amy had said to him a while back? Emotions, that's when he messed up. Right. He needed to remove all thoughts of Rose and River hurt or in pain, remove his guilt, and simply focus on saving them. He was missing something, so, so obvious. He thought back to their previous experiences with the Silence. When Amy was taken, the light in her hand resorted to...

"Doctor? Hello?"

Live feed. He ran outside the ship and grabbed the small light from the ground, it was River's. Tracking the weak signal, he navigated the ship through the time vortex. "Where are we going?" John asked.

"Tracing the signal! We'll be able to find where they are keeping Rose and River!" The TARDIS lurched to the side and he grabbed onto the railing.

"You can get me and Rose back to our world right? After this?" John asked with obvious distrust in his voice.

"Of course... Yes... Probably," The Doctor replied, his thoughts elsewhere.

"Not sure if she'd want to go back with me anyways," He mumbled, sulking in the chair next to the console.

"Now isn't the time! We have to save them!" The Time-Lord yelled at John, his voice sounding a little colder than he meant it to be. How could John worry about that at a time like this? His wife... His wives? Were in trouble, and they could be hurt any second!

"Right," John shook his head, focusing himself.

"We're almost there!" The Doctor shouted, steering the ship carelessly and having it lurch to the right.

The TARDIS landed with a whoosh, and John and the Time-Lord immediately ran to the door to find their wives. "Rose?! River?!" John called.

"John?!" Rose's voice called back, it was very muffled.

They were in a large, dark, empty room. The walls were gray with black smudges across them. There were some dim fading lights built into the walls and the floor was a stained white. After searching the walls for a while they finally found a door. It was disguised very well, and was locked. The Doctor took out his sonic screwdriver and opened the door.

"Rose?! Where are you?!"

There was no reply. They ran down a narrow hall that had the same design as the room they were just in. There was another door at the end of the hallway, and they burst inside to see Rose chained to a wall. River was nowhere in sight. Rose had a gag in her mouth but her eyes made her message obvious, 'Run!'

John ignored her message and ran up to her, examining her injuries. There was a large cut down the right side of her face, and her legs and arms were bruised all over. Her make-up was running down her face, stained with tears. Oh, these creatures were going to _pay. _He freed her of her bonds and she threw the gag onto the floor in disgust.

"You have to run! Now!" She shouted immediately. Her eyes darted to the Doctor's palm, which was lighting up.

"Why is your?..."

"It lights up when... Oh no..." He pressed his palm with his thumb and listened carefully.

The message that played was a simple one that he knew all too well. "Run!"

The Time-Lord glanced up and saw several creatures hanging from the ceiling. He immediately pushed his palm and recorded a message. "Run... There's ten of them." The Silence were staring at them carefully, waiting to attack. "Run!" John shouted, grabbing Rose's hand and heading for the door. The Doctor followed swiftly.

"Why are we running?" Rose asked, smiling at John.

The Doctor pushed his palm again and they all listened in fear to the message he had left. They ran down the hallway and back into the large room where the TARDIS was. "Get us out of here, Doctor!" John yelled, running towards the ship.

However, the Time-Lord stopped in his tracks. "River is here... Rose, John, get in the TARDIS _now!_" He commanded.

Rose reluctantly nodded and followed her human husband into the ship. The Doctor locked the doors from the outside and ran back off to find his curly-haired hell-in-high-heels wife.

* * *

"What did they do to you Rose? I will kill every last one of them I swear," John growled, staring at Rose's bruises.

"I did it to myself, trying to escape... But River..." Rose started to cry and John wrapped his arms protectively around her. "They said River wasn't fully human... They said rhe would test her... She screamed, John, and there was nothing I could do..."

"It'll all be okay Rose," He assured her, squeezing her even tighter against himself, "We'll be back home soon."

"Promise?" She whispered, knowing it was of no use to try and stay strong. She was already beat up and crying and beyond repairation.

"I promise," He said, releasing her. But she knew his eyes, and she still remembered what she had learned in her many adventures on board the TARDIS.

Rule one, the Doctor lies. Even if it wasnt truly him.


	4. Fighting Over The Doctor

Left... Right... Left, no, he needed to take a right there... Forwards... Rassilon, where was he? The Doctor sprinted through the labyrinth of halls, searching desperately for River Song. He opened door after door, sometimes members of the Silence were inside, but it wasn't like he remembered. The Time-Lord didn't even bother putting a tally-mark on his arm or recording his voice. He knew the Silence were here, but more importantly, his wife was here too.

"Doctor!" He heard a familiar voice scream. She was in trouble, loads and loads of trouble. His advanced mind was thinking twenty things at once, and it was clouded.

After running and running, he found her. River was strapped in a chair, much like Rose was, and she was also beaten and bruised. Three Silence were around her, hissing at him. Screens were scattered around the room, X-Rays of her body and information he couldn't make out. There was a black gag in her mouth, and her eyes spelled out fear.

"River!" He shouted, ignoring the monsters around them, he ran to her side. "You will all, individually regret this," He hissed at them and pressed his palm, just to be safe.

The Silence, living up to their name, did not reply. One of them reached for the Doctor, and the Time-Lord ran over to a table with River's possessions on it. He grabbed her gun and pointed it at the nearest monster. He had absolutely no idea how to use it, but he could definitely figure it out.

"You are the Doctor, you will not shoot," One of the monsters whispered, stepping closer to him.

The Doctor pointed his gun at the ceiling and shot a hole in it. Small debris rained down onto the floor. "Try me," He stared at the creature. The Time-Lord's eyes were filled with evil and passion, without a single trace of the mercy that was usually there. None of the monsters moved. "Now, release my wife, and we'll be going."

The Silence hesitated, but reluctantly released River. Terrified, she ran over to the Doctor and took the gun from him. They left the room and ran back to the TARDIS.

* * *

"They're not back yet, should we go look for them?" Rose whispered. She wasn't sure why she was speaking so quietly to John, they were alone in the TARDIS after all.

"He'll be back, with River," John replied, stroking her hair with his hand and holding her close.

At that exact moment, the doors flew open and River and the Doctor burst in. The Doctor immediately started flying the ship, and was taken by surprise when River grabbed him, threw him away from the console, and pointed her gun at him. "River?! What are you doing?"

"You kissed her," River lowered her gun and slapped him hard across the face.

"Is now really the time?..." He began and then saw her gaze. His voice went high at the end of his sentence and he backed up against the wall of the room.

"Who. Is. She." River commanded, approaching the cowering Time-Lord slowly.

"You could ask her," Rose spoke up, walking towards River.

"Yes, yes I could," River moved her gun towards Rose, "Who are you?"

John stepped forward now, "Don't shoot her, don't you dare."

"Can we do this after we get out of here?" The Doctor asked quietly, trying to walk back towards the console.

"NO!" Rose, River, and John all shouted at him.

"I'm Rose Tyler," Rose smiled sweetly, "And I could most definitely ask, who are you?"

"River Song, I'm his wife," River narrowed her eyes at Rose, who was completely confident although keeping her eyes on River's gun.

"I'm his wife," Rose pointed at John.

"They're the same person," River glanced at John apologetically after saying this.

"No they're not! Er I mean, no we're not..." John muttered.

"QUIET!" The Doctor shouted, raising his sonic screwdriver and making a very irritating high pitched sound. Everyone stared at him, waiting for an explanation for the confusing situation that they were all in.

"Rose married John, I married River, John isn't me, I am not John," He stated simply, "I love Rose, I love River."

"So you married me but you love another woman?" River retorted. Usually she wasn't this jealous, but this Rose Tyler girl was walking around acting like she owned the Doctor. That was River's job.

"River, he didn't even kiss me, I kissed him," Rose said, staring at her cautiously.

"You. What." River turned to face her and dropped her gun. She started walking towards Rose, who didn't move her ground. "You kissed my husband?"

"He's my husband too!" Rose yelled back.

Behind the loud argument that was developing, John and the Doctor stood next to each other. "This will turn ugly," John whispered to the Time-Lord.

"I know," He whispered back, "Do you hate me?"

"No, I understand what's happening. Well, everything except what's going on in their heads," John laughed.

"HE OBVIOUSLY LOVES ME MORE!" River screamed, she was beyond jealously now. This fight would probably end in death.

"HE BURNED UP A SUN JUST TO SAY GOODBYE TO ME!" Rose slapped River with the famous Tyler slap. This argument was about to get physical.

The two blondes were punching and kicking at each other while rolling around on the floor. John and the Doctor nodded at each other and put their plan to break it up into action. John lifted them off of each other and the Doctor set up a force field in between them. They were now separated by a light blue wall, which the Doctor and John were able to step through effortlessly. The two girls kicked and punched at the wall, growling like animals.

"Well, Doctor, who do you love more?" Rose asked, staring at him.

The Time-Lord knew there was no escaping this. 'So much for 'Doctor Who?' Being the oldest question in the universe,' He thought. He looked over at River, his wife, the person who he trusted the most in his life. Then he looked over to Rose, the woman he had lost, who he had burned up a sun for, who he had just barely managed to save. He stood on the blue force field, half his body with Rose and half with River. John stood behind Rose, nervously watching him.

"I love..." He began.

* * *

Author's Note: Ohhh cliffhanger! :P I just got back from a trip so I'll be able to write a lot more now. Hope you enjoyed this chapter, and please review!


	5. Sassing The Silence

_He looked over at River, his wife, the person who he trusted the most in his life. Then he looked over to Rose, the woman he had lost, who he had burned up a sun for, who he had just barely managed to save. He stood on the blue force field, half his body with Rose and half with River. John stood behind Rose, nervously watching him._

_"I love..." He began._

* * *

**CRASH!**

"What?!" They all shouted practically simultaneously, the question wasn't answered. Not yet. The Silence were right outside the TARDIS, banging on the door, trying to get through even though the assembled army of Genghis Khan couldn't do it.

"We have to get out of here... Fast..." The Doctor muttered, still not completely over the shock of what was just about to happen. He had already made his decision, of course. He knew exactly who he would choose, who he loved more. Even though it was hard, the hardest thing he had ever done.

The hardest thing he ever would do.

River started flying the ship, absent-mindedly pulling levers and hitting buttons as the TARDIS lurched to the right and then to the left. "Doctor! Pull the zig-zag plotter!"

The Doctor obeyed immediately and the ship stopped its ragged movements. They all breathed sighs of relief as they landed back on earth, in Cardiff.

"That was the worst bloody timing!" Rose groaned to herself. The Silence truly were evil, making them wait even longer for his answer. She knew he would just run away again, as he always did from every situation that made him even slightly uncomfortable.

"Anyways... Er..." The Doctor raked a hand nervously through his hair. He avoided everyone's staring at him. They were waiting for an answer. "We should probably um... I'll... Be right back..." He walked down the TARDIS hallway, awkwardly turning back to face them a few times and opening his mouth as if to speak, then shutting it.

John, Rose, and River were left in the console room, staring at each other. After a few minutes of silence, Rose spoke. "I'm going to uh, go to my bedroom..."

"Me too," River nodded, following Rose into the hallway.

"Er... I don't have a bedroom..." John mumbled.

"With me!" Rose called at him.

The Doctor's dreams were haunted that night. Haunted by the sight of River and Rose, angry with him, leaving him. The sight of him making the decision that would bring one of them to tears. And poor, poor John. Poor John who was only alive because of the Doctor, John who thought he was just a copy, just someone to comfort Rose whenever she needed him. He had no idea that he was so much more, he was a human being, he had a life, something the Doctor would never be able to have.

Yet he had no idea just how unbelievably lucky he was.

* * *

"Well, what's your answer?" Rose glared at the Doctor who walked into the console room the following morning. Her arms were folded across her chest, and River and John were right behind her. They were teaming up on him. That was not fair, that was _very_ far from fair. And why was John even angry at him? Rose and River probably had talked hm into joining them. They were the angry mob and the Doctor was Frankenstein.

"Answer to what?" He pretended to sound uninterested and un-knowledgable.

"You know what, sweetie," River's hand ghosted over the holster of her gun.

"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," The Doctor walked towards the console and began flying, "Anyways, who wants to stop the Silence?!" He looked around and saw some completely unamused stares. "Anyone?" John's stare was more apologetic than River's or Rose's, but nevertheless angry.

A tape started playing from the TARDIS, "Silence will fall... Silence will fall..."

The Doctor gestured towards the console, "Huh?! Anyone, isn't that interesting?! Don't you want to know what's doing that?!"

More blank stares. Blimey, these people were harder to amuse than an Ood.

"Listen, Doctor," Rose broke the incredibly awkward silence, the tape stopped playing, as if it was waiting for her voice. "We're both mature women, yeah?" She glanced at River who nodded in agreement, "We can handle it. I've learned a lot in my time working for Torchwood, so just... Just tell us."

But, at the perfect timing, the ship started humming loudly. He ran up to a screen and started checking it. "The Silence," He mumbled, "They've found us."

"These bloody Silence! I'm sick of them!" Rose marched towards the police box doors and much to everyone's surprise, yanked them open. Ten creatures were lurking about the outside and began hissing when they saw the human. "Listen you!" She shouted at them, not a glint of fear in her eyes.

The Doctor was surprised to see the Silence actually back up, he subconsciously pushed his palm, even though he was sure he would remember this very clearly. 'Right now she's even scarier than when she was the Bad Wolf,' He thought to himself.

"The Bad Wolf?" River asked.

Oh, so he had said that out loud. Oops.

"Um... Rose..." John reached his hand out towards her a bit, as if to grab her by her hair and pull her back into the ship. Although he knew better than the rest of them that it was no use.

"I want whatever you all are to go back to where you came from, _NOW!_" Rose screamed, folding her arms as the Silence backed away.

Talk about learning a thing or two from Torchwood.

"Now, I want all of you, whatever-you-ares, to come back in ten minutes, capice?"

"Silence will fall..." The tape from the console started playing again.

"Oh will you just shut up!" River shot the console with her gun then turned to stroke the wall of the ship, "Sorry about that."

The Doctor's jaw dropped, he wasn't sure if it was at the fact that the Silence were retreating because Rose _yelled_ at them or the fact that River had just _shot_ his ship. "Did you just..." He began.

John was about to shut the police box doors when he called out, "The Silence are coming back. Rose, don't you dare go back out there," He warned her. "Wait a minute, the doors aren't shutting. Why aren't the doors shutting?!" John yelled, watching as the Silence crept closer.

"Because somebody shot my TARDIS!" The Doctor glared at River.

"Away from the doors, all of you, now!" River pulled out her gun again and the rest of the travelers fled behind her.

"The TARDIS is releasing some sort of gas, we need to get out of here, now!" The Doctor started running towards the exit then turned back. "We're stuck..."

River was shooting the Silence as best as she could, but easily she was taken away along with Rose, the Doctor, and John.

* * *

"Wakey wakey..." Rose heard a voice and she searched around. She was in a white night gown, in a white bed, in a white room, in a white building. Everything was white. She stood up immediately and walked around. With a massive migraine, she noticed it was actually a prison cell. There was glass on one wall, with a door. You can imagine the color of the door. However there were no windows, only a bed and a toilet. Glancing across the hall at the other cell she saw John, laying in his identical cell unconscious.

"John! Wake up!" She called for him. He stumbled up immediately and ran towards her. His body woke up even before his eyes did, she realized as he tumbled into the glass and a shock ran through his body..

"That glass, ow! Rose! Where are we?!" He whispered back.

"The Silence took us. River, Doctor, are you guys around here?!" She called down the hallway.

"I'm here!" River yelled. She was in the cell to the left of Rose. "I see the Doctor! He's not moving..." River worriedly put her hand against the glass and noticed that it shocked her. "Ow! Don't touch the glass, it's charged!"

"Noticed..." John mumbled, rubbing his burned arm.

"Doctor! Wake up! I don't see his chest moving..." River frantically paced her cell. How to get out of here, how to get out? How to wake him up? "Um... Bananas!" She yelled. Unfortunately, that only got John's attention. "Uh... Hello sweetie?" The Doctor stirred a little, and she breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

Rose remembered something that had worked a long time ago, right after the Doctor had regenerated. She shouted towards him, "Help me!"

The Doctor got up and immediately reached for his sonic screwdriver, which, to his surprise, wasn't there. "Huh? River!" He touched the glass then withdrew from the shock. "Rose, John, where are they?"

"We're in the cells next to you," John said, "Now get us out of here."

"Screwdriver is gone... And Rassilon, what am I wearing?" He noted his long white cloth pants and his missing shirt.

"They take your shirt too?" John muttered.

"Maybe the Silence aren't so bad," River winked. The Doctor flushed pink then proceeded to trying to escape.

He took in his surroundings. Bed, medical bed, all fluffy and soft... Toilet, metal, couldn't lift it off the ground, water in it. Water was useful. Water is good. Door! White door, white door with a handle and lock on the outside nothing on the inside, wouldn't budge, good to know.

"Uh, Doctor?" River stared at him.

"Oh, was I thinking out loud again?" He mumbled as he poked the glass.

River nodded. He examined the glass next, this time actually thinking in his head. The glass shocked him, and it did hurt, however, it wasn't that strong. If he could just... Break it... Maybe with his...

The Doctor slammed his fist against the glass with all his might, and the glass, to everyone's surprise, made a rewarding cracking sound. However, so did his fist. "Ow ow ow ow ow! Remind me, to never, ever do that again," He muttered, sucking on his knuckles.

"You just need to hit it once more," River encouraged him.

"Just... Give me a minute," He laid down on the bed, still cradling his hand. "Okay..." He got up and raised his other fist. "One more hit..."

He banged his other hand roughly against the glass and it shattered across the floor, electricity sparking everywhere and hitting him. The Doctor fell to the floor and groaned lightly, "I'm okay..."

* * *

Author's Notes: Okay, okay, okay. I know I'm evil for that beginning, first of all. Second of all, just got a new computer woot woot :) And third, should it be Rose or River? Who is the Doctor's true love? Tell me what you think in the reviews! P.S. If it makes you feel any better about the cliffhanger, Rose can't stand waiting for his answer either. :P


	6. Meeting Nathaniel

"Now break us out, please, sweetie," River smiled at the Doctor, who was cradling his fist and staring up at her.

"Right. Get all of you out," He muttered, getting up from the ground and brushing the shards of glass off of himself and wincing at the small shocks. "The glass itself is electric, it's not even charged by anything... That's brilliant!"

"Wait, quiet," John whispered from his cell, just loud enough so the other three could hear him.

There were footsteps coming down the hall. Loud, slow footsteps, just one person though. "Someone's coming... Doctor, go hide," River whispered to him and he nodded, sprinting down the hallway in the other direction.

A large man approached the cells, wearing a navy green muscle shirt and black dress pants. His feet were huge, explaining the unbelievably loud footsteps he was creating. He had short, black, army cut hair, tan skin covered in scars, and a weird eye patch on his right eye. He walked directly in front of the Doctor's cell and entered through the broken glass, looking around. Then he turned and walked to Rose's. "Where is he?" The man asked simply, staring at her without an expression on his face.

"I don't know," She replied, folding her arms across her chest.

"Will any of you three tell me?" The man walked past River and John's cells, glaring at them before returning to Rose. He reached towards his belt and pulled out a regular walkie talkie, keeping eye contact with her. "The Doctor escaped his cell, other three still in captivity. Send troops. Over."

"You won't find him," River mumbled, sitting down on her bed and examining her nails carefully.

Rose had to admit, River was growing on her. When they had first met each other, there was obvious hatred in their eyes for each other. Ironically enough, the fact that the Doctor wouldn't say who he loved more was what brought them together. They had a common goal, to get him to see sense. An impossible goal, nevertheless, but still, a goal.

Several more men ran down the hall, wearing similar uniforms to the first man. They went down the hall in the Doctor's direction, after whispering some quiet words to each other. John and Rose shot each other worried glances. "What if they do find him?" She whispered to him worriedly, her eyes fixed on the man standing just a few meters away from the cell in the hallway, trying not to let him hear.

"Attention. The Doctor has been found. Troops nine through twenty four may report back to their original stations. Over."

"No..." River muttered, getting up from the bed and walking over to the glass, "Who are you?"

"Isn't it obvious?" The man pointed towards his eye patch, before nonchalantly picking up the walkie talkie again, "Bring the Doctor back to his cell, fix the glass, and intensify the restraints. Over."

"What's that mean? Intensify the restraints? What will you do to him?" Rose asked, putting her hand up on the glass then snapping it back at the pain.

The man just glared over at Rose with disgust in his eyes and muttered more words into the walkie. "And increase the bloody voltage."

After a few minutes, a team of workers approached the Doctor's cell. They began repairing the glass, using large black gloves to pick up the pieces. Somehow, the shards of glass seemed to blend together, as if connecting like magnets. The team was done repairing the cell in a matter of minutes, then they casually plucked off their gloves and walked back down the hallway.

"Where's the Doctor?" John asked after a severely long pause.

"I doubt they found him... Probably just trying to scare us, yeah?" Rose said hopefully, staring into John's eyes looking for any kind of reassurance.

"Yeah," He muttered, not meeting her gaze. His happy tone was obviously faked.

* * *

The Doctor raced down the hallway, with only getting his friends out of their cells on his mind. He stopped running when he heard quick footsteps, so he ducked around a corner and pressed his back and hands to the wall. This branch of the hallway was extremely short and led to a door, which sadly, had a lock on it. He fumbled with the lock for a few seconds, until the footsteps got extremely loud. 'Please, please run past me,' The Time-Lord thought, silently praying. This was just a like a classic earth movie. And if it was a classic earth movie, the guards would be dumb, right? They'd run right past him, completely oblivious. But apparently, he wasn't being filmed for a movie, because the guards stopped running and stared at him.

"Hello! I'm the Doctor!" He gave them his best grin and fumbled with the door slightly.

"Attention. The Doctor has been found. Troops nine through twenty-four may report back to their original stations. Over," The man spoke, returning the Doctor's bright grin as the other men turned and walked away.

"Listen... There's been some kind of mistake..."

"Please put your hands behind your back," The man commanded, his grin widening when the Doctor gave a reluctant groan and did as he said. He put on the silver handcuffs that had been attached to the belt, making sure to tighten them well. Pushing him back down the hallway, he brought the Doctor back to his cell.

"Stop fighting or I'll tighten them!" The man yelled as the Doctor yanked at the cuffs.

The Doctor's wrists were beginning to scrape, and the man had the key tantalizingly around his neck on a chain, in obvious sight. River wondered exactly what had happened to him in a mere twenty minutes. "Why don't you just kill me?" He spat as his guard put on gloves and opened the glass door, throwing the Time-Lord inside carelessly.

"My name is Nathaniel, just so you all know," The man hissed, ignoring the Doctor's question. "I'll be... Taking care of you."

"If you 'increased the voltage' why handcuff me?" The Doctor asked, smiling confidently before adding, "Nathaniel."

"You're dangerous. We're not idiots."

"Of course you're not idiots! In fact, you all are brilliant, absolutely brilliant. You capture a dangerous, psychotic alien, one you know everything about if I'm correct. So you put him in a glass cell, thinking a little shock will stop him from escaping. Tell me, _Nathaniel,_" He spoke his name again coldly, "If you know so much about me, can you tell me how many prisons I have escaped?"

Nathaniel hid his shock at the Doctor's words. "I'll gag you if I need to."

"How many prisons I've escaped? How many gags I've thrown out of my mouth? How many people I've outsmarted?" He retorted, staring into Nathaniel's dark eyes. The Doctor could sense the fear.

"How many men you've killed?"

This shut the Doctor up immediately. He opened his mouth as if to speak, then shut it. Nathaniel was playing on very, very dangerous grounds. River knew that, Rose knew that, John knew that, and the Doctor did especially. He turned on his heels and walked back down the hallway, leaving the Doctor speechless, standing in his cell, still absent-mindedly struggling with his handcuffs.

John poked at the glass and with a yelp, pulled his hand back. "They definitely increased the voltage... But why don't they just kill us?"

"I have a feeling this will be a long night," The Doctor said quietly, sitting down on his bed and burying his face in his hands.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hi guys! Sorry this chapter took so long to put up, I've had a super busy schedule lately, and I wasn't super happy with the first version of this chapter. There will probably be a good bit of Whump in the next chapter or two. Also, the eleventh Doctor will deliver you a pizza if you review. Just thought I'd add that.


	7. Drugs In The Bread

"Listen... Rose, John... I'm very sorry," The Doctor swallowed and spoke in the direction of their cells.

"Sorry for what?" Rose asked, laying on her bed that was surprisingly comfortable.

"You two had a life going, a great life, and I dragged you into this mess. I promise the second we escape ill bring you both back to your house and never bother you again." He toyed with his handcuffs, trying to get them in a more comfortable position on his wrists.

"Don't apologize for that," Rose replied gently, sitting up on the bed to see John staring at her intently. "I missed you, and you were in trouble. I can't speak for John but anytime you need help, just contact me."

"Me too," John said, his eyes still fixed on Rose.

* * *

"Wakey Wakey!" Nathaniel yelled, walking down the hall with his hands across his chest, a guard holding a tray behind him, and his face with an evil grin.

The four travelers groaned in their cells and rolled over on their beds. The Doctor shot up and walked over to the glass. "Give me some good news Nathaniel! You're going to let us go!"

"No, I'm afraid not. However, I brought you some leftovers," He said with excitement, putting on the gloves that were in his back pocket and opening John's door. A loaf of bread was thrown into each cell, and a small cup of water was placed carelessly beside it.

"Wait, don't eat it, it may be drugged," River warned.

"Drug your food and drink?" Nathaniel said with heavy sarcasm, "No no no, silly, here's the game. One loaf of bread is drugged. I honestly don't know which. Ta Ta."

"Why would he tell us that?" The Doctor hissed when Nathaniel was out of earshot. "What's the point?" He sniffed his bread carefully. "Does anyone think theirs is drugged?"

"I can't tell, but I'm really hungry," Rose frowned, tearing open her bread and examining it.

"Don't eat it, I'll break us out of here before we can get any hungrier," The Doctor said. He had to get in an incredibly uncomfortable position in order to sniff his food, due to the handcuffs.

* * *

One day later Nathaniel had still not come back. The Doctor figured they must've had a camera set up somewhere and they were waiting for them to eat.

"I'm starving," Rose muttered, toying with her bread that was no longer fresh. She had already drank her water yesterday, and so had everyone else.

"Let's eat the bread," The Doctor decreed, picking his loaf up and walking over to the glass, as close to his friends as he could get.

"Are you sure?" John asked, voice filled with concern for Rose. "One at a time?"

"No, all at once..." River stated, getting up from her bed. "One... Two... Three..."

_Crunch. _They all bit into their hard loaves of bread and immediately started devouring the rest, a little crazy with hunger. When they were done eating and licking the crumbs off of their fingers, they immediately looked at the person in the cell across from them. Each of them hoped silently it would be themselves who was drugged.

But only one silent prayer came true, because Rose collapsed to the ground, holding her head. "It's me, definitely me," She murmured before going silent and stilling.

"Rose! No no no, Rose!" John yelled, tears on his face. "She just passed out, that doesn't mean anything does it? They haven't taken her anywhere... Rose, please wake up."

To John's despair, Nathaniel walked down the hall with his gloves on, opened Rose's cell, and walked inside. "Awh, how precious, she's sleeping." He said, picking up Rose gently in his arms and cradling her back and forth.

"Don't you touch her," John spat, resisting the urge to break the glass and electrocute himself.

"Touch her? What, like this?" Nathaniel dropped Rose hard on the floor, and John winced at the noise. "Better be quiet, lover boy, or that's just the start. Now come on, Rose." He picked her up again and walked down the hall.

"Rose..." The Doctor stared at the ground, preparing himself for what was coming. John.

"Save her, Doctor. Save her now. I don't know what they're doing to her but you had better bloody save her," John punched his bed in rage.

"John, she'll be okay," River whispered to him.

"How can you say that? She's passed out and with a bunch of evil, awful men... What if they rape her, River? Oh my god, what if they rape her?"

"They won't," River assured, even though she wasn't sure herself.

But before she could say anymore, there was an ear piercing scream.

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Don't kill me for the cliffhanger! But hey the more reviews the faster it comes? :D Hope you enjoy reading this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it, and prepare yourselves for some whump.


	8. Drowning In Self-Loathing

"_ROSE!_" John screamed at the top of his lungs, kicking at the glass and falling to the ground from the hard shock.

"John, stop," The Doctor said, his voice icy. Controlling his anger wasn't easy. After all, he wanted to help Rose just as much as John did. But the human side of John was blinding him from the point. This is what they _wanted._

"You'd better save her, Doctor. You'd better fucking save her this second _or I swear..._" His quiet voice cracked on his threat and although River and the Doctor couldn't see him, it was obvious he was crying.

"John... This is what they want. They want to break us," The Time-Lord said quietly to his duplicate, contemplating more ways to escape.

"Us. Don't you care?"

"Of course I care, but like I said, this is what they want._ Listen to me, _John," The Doctor sighed a little, "She'll be okay."

There was a few minutes of silence as River stared at the eleventh Doctor, who was still playing with his handcuffs. His wrists were red and cut all over from the tight metal, but he wasn't complaining at all.

Rose's screams hadn't lasted long, luckily. Only a few seconds, and then they had died away. Then again, that could be a bad thing. On the outside, the Doctor was calm, but on the inside, he was panicking completely. For many reasons. John had trusted him, and he had let him down. Rose had been taken. He popped back into their lives just to get a little bit of help, and look what he did? He ruined a relationship, another relationship at that, and now one of them was crying silently for the other. Because of him, because of his stupidity.

Maybe Time-Lords weren't so smart after all. Screw that, he wasn't even worthy of being a Time-Lord. He was just a madman with a box. Always has been, always will be.

"Stop it," River said suddenly, still staring at him.

"Stop what?" The Doctor's eyes flashed with curiosity, what could River mean this time?

"Beating yourself up," She finished.

"Who said I was beating myself up?" He retorted, a hint of sass in his voice.

"I just did."

John resisted to comment, resisted to say 'He'd better be beating himself up.' And it was oh, _so_ tempting. As much as he respected the Doctor, as much as he thanked him every night for giving him his precious Rose, right now if he was with him he would beat him senseless. Is this what being a human is truly like? All these... Emotions? It wasn't like he had never had emotions before, of course he did, but now they felt... Even his fear and pain felt... What was that word?

_Right._

* * *

Rose was roughly pulled down the hall. Whatever the strange drug was, it had definitely done its job. She had no dreams, and no pain. Eventually, she woke up in a room, white like most of the building, laying on a bed. To her surprise, she wasn't bound at all. Getting up immediately, she examined her surroundings. She was still incredibly dizzy from the drug, and there was four of everything in the room. Around her was two men, one of them a stranger and one Nathaniel. 'No, that's not right,' She told herself, 'Nathaniel is a stranger, too.'

A few tables were scattered around the room aimlessly, and weird items she couldn't identify were scattered everywhere, including along the floor. Some posters were on the wall, medical posters of bodies of different aliens. There was a large door on one wall, sadly made of the glass she recognized all too well. It took her a while to realize that Nathaniel was speaking, and he smiled, clearly amused at her.

"Rose. I said, how are you feeling?"

Rose tried to think of a response, and eventually replied, "Tired."

"Listen, we just gave you some funny drugs okay?" Nathaniel said, nudging the man next to him and smiling. The other man looked incredibly nervous until he saw Nathaniel's smile, and then he lightened up.

"Doctor?" Rose mumbled.

"He's safe. So are John and River."

Rose looked down and noticed her new white nightgown. "Why..." She began, then trailed off, stumbling forward and hitting a table, holding onto it for balance.

"We need to insert this little chip in you, see?" Nathaniel raised a little metal square he had been hiding in his fist and showed it to her. The evil smile was still plastered on his face and it was obvious he was enjoying this very much.

"No," The table had wheels at the bottom and rolled away from her, landing her on the floor in a heap, with Nathaniel towering over her.

"Don't you want to know what it does?" The other man asked slyly, obviously losing his shyness.

"Don't touch me," Rose mumbled, backing away, still on her hands and feet.

"Any last words?" Nathaniel smiled, putting the chip into a machine that looked a little too much like an ear piercer.

"You should really get an interior designer."

And with those as her last words, Rose screamed as the machine plunged into her.

* * *

"It's been forever," River muttered. Because her cell was diagonal from John's, if she moved to the corner of her cell and looked out the corner of her eyes, she could just barely see his figure. His rapid breathes had been deteriorating slowly, and now he was taking in deep breaths, occasionally wracked by a sob. He was a complete mess.

"John?" They heard Rose's voice call from down the hallway, and the three prisoners immediately ran up to the glass, careful not to touch it, searching for Rose.

"Rose? Are you hurt? Rose!" John replied, voice still cracked and face covered in dried tears.

Rose walked past River and the Doctor's cell, filling the two with sighs of relief at the fact that she didn't look injured. She stopped in front of John's cell and faced him, but there was a major problem.

A problem that wasn't an injury, that wasn't pained. The problem was recognition.

Rose had no idea who he was.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Okay, I know this cliffhanger was even worse than the last, but hey, what can I say? I live for cliffhangers. :) Anyways, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and remember, if you review then I assure you Matt Smith will deliver you a box of Girl Scout cookies.


	9. Meeting Wyatt

Rose's expression was simply one of pure confusion, as if she was trying to figure out who he was.

"What did you do to her?" John spat angrily when Nathaniel walked behind Rose and put his arm around her shoulder. Rose didn't look fazed at all by this.

"Just gave her a few simple things, Doctor, would you like to have her? She's a bit useless at the moment, I warn you." Nathaniel waved his hand in front of Rose's face quickly and she simply stared at him.

"Get away from her," John gritted his teeth and tried to control his rising temper. River could just barely see what was going on, and she was absolutely disgusted. Who would do this, and what was it for? The Doctor half-understood what was going on, but he was overall light-headed from the entire situation, as if his cell was running out of oxygen.

"She doesn't mind, do you Rose?" The man leaned in closer to Rose and she blinked. "Shake your head," He commanded of her, only to have her blink again.

"Leave her alone," John warned, unwanted tears building up in his eyes.

"I said, shake your head!" To everyone's dismay, Nathaniel slapped Rose hard on her cheek and she instantly clutched it in pain and shook her head. Her body was trembling a little bit, as if she was trying to move but couldn't. "Oh look, your boyfriend is crying for you, Rose. Anything to say to that?"

"Be..." Rose managed to gasp out, but her hands instantly flew to her throat in a strange fit. Eventually she calmed down and stared at John, her eyes still not recognizing him.

"Rose, if you can hear me, I'll get you out of this. Okay? Just, please, please be okay," John's voice cracked a little when his eyes flickered to the smiling Nathaniel.

"Now, more tests, or back in your cell?" He asked Rose, pretending to wait for an answer for a few minutes. "Back in your cell it is." Nathaniel put on gloves and opened up Rose's cell, guiding her inside. Her hands were still shaking and her breathing was slow.

After Nathaniel left John let out a frustrated roar and kicked his bed seven times as hard as he possibly could. Rose, to his surprise, had the intelligence left to sit down on her bed and stare forward. The Doctor paced his room, trying to think of a way to get out. River was playing thoughtlessly with her blonde curls, stressing over Rose's situation.

"Rose, please, it's me, John. Remember?" A small forced smile lit up his face when Rose turned to look at him. "We're married. You have to snap out of this. Whatever they did to you, it's a mental thing, just break down their walls, please. Please please please PLEASE break down their walls," John begged her, getting as close to the glass of his cell as he dared, the electricity making the hairs on his arms and legs shoot forward.

* * *

"What'd you do to her exactly?" The man named Wyatt asked. He had been in the room when Rose was injected with the strange serum, and had no idea what it did. After all, he was just considered one of the brain-dead guards, nobody told him anything.

"It's some fancy alien stuff called Bungridge. It should lower her mental walls and allow this little liquid parasite to get inside, dumbing her down and removing a good bit of memory," Nathaniel replied, sitting down at a cafeteria table next to Wyatt and digging into his mashed potatoes in a plastic cup.

"Sounds paunful," Wyatt remarked, sipping his milk and making a face at the taste. "Sour."

"It's always sour, you're new here, you'll get used to it. And sure it's painful," Nathaniel gulped the last of his mashed potatoes and chugged his milk. "But necessary."

"Necessary for what? Why dumb her down, why not kill her or... Extract her memories?"

"You really think we have the science to 'extract her memories?' If we did, I'm sure they'd do that. There are rumors of the higher levels of the Silence rankings having technology like that, but down here? None," He explained, tossing his paper tray into the trash can, not bothering to eat anymore.

Nathaniel rested his head on his elbows and continued. "But I'm pretty sure the point is to break John and the Doctor. Possibly curly too," He smiled at the nickname he and Wyatt had made up for River, "But I think it'll work. After all, I only slapped Rose and that John bloke was prepared to pull my eyes from my sockets. He's screwed."

"I suppose you're right," Wyatt replied, copying what Nathaniel had done and tossing his tray into the trash. "But... What happens when we break them? Since that's our job?"

"They'll be at the mercy of the Silence then."

* * *

Rose's mind was the last place she wanted to be right now. It's strange how you never really think about the fact that you are a brain, you are a mind, not just a body, but when you actually physically enter that place it's much easier to understand. Rose couldn't see anything, she could only see and feel.

It was obvious to her something bad was going on, and she could only hope one of her friends would stop it. Her mind was a very busy place, with memories and dreams floating around every which way, shrieking to be heard. Suddenly, she felt cold hard pain wreck her body, and could only wonder what was happening outside.

Somehow, a few words leaked through from reality. And one entire speech. "Rose, if you can hear me, I'll get you out of this." She heard his beautiful voice ring around her, and she held it close to herself.

It was all she had left.

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for this chapter being late! :( I'm so bad with schedules.


	10. Curly And Dumb Blondie

**Author's Notes:** Uh oh, it's about to get whumpy. Please review!

* * *

"John, it won't work," The Doctor said quietly to his human duplicate, his eyes fixed on Rose. This was all his fault, completely and utterly his fault. Rose Tyler had the perfect ending. Why did he have to go and ruin it?

"Doctor," River's voice was a warning. Sure, she didn't know John all that well, but if he was anything like the Doctor then you did not want to mess with his feelings for Rose Tyler.

"Rose... Please just speak to me. You're strong enough to fight this, please," John whispered again and again like a prayer, ignoring the Doctor and River.

Rose stared blankly at John, sitting on her bed. Her hands were resting on her lap and her cheek was still red from where Nathaniel had slapped her. John's entire body shook at the memory. Nathaniel, the evil evil man, had touched his precious Rose.

And oh, would he pay.

"I'm back!" Nathaniel's voice called out happily down the hallway.

"How was the trip from hell?" John spat when Nathaniel strode in front of his cell, holding a plate of bread.

"Now now spiky hair, better be nice or I'll touch your pet again. Trust me, I wouldn't mind," He grinned and his eyes flickered over to Rose, who was still in the same position, her eyes now on Nathaniel.

John growled like an animal in response, but didn't say anything when Nathaniel slipped the bread into each of their cells. Nathaniel visited the Doctor's cell last, and stared at him curiously. The Time-Lord's wrists were cut and bleeding from the sharp handcuffs that remained around his wrists, and his face was without a visible emotion. "What's wrong, Doctor? Aren't you upset about your little pet? Something the matter?"

The Doctor's eyes flashed at the word 'pet,' but he too remained still. "Do you work for the Silence?"

"There's a smart boy," Nathaniel smiled brightly. "Just for that I'll take your handcuffs off." He entered his cell and took a small key out of his pocket. The Doctor didn't fight as his handcuffs were unlocked, and rubbed his wrists gently. "Do you care for curly more than you do for dumb blondie? Thought you'd be going for the younger girls. Hmmph."

He relocked the Doctor's cell and marched back and forth, glancing at River. "I could do the same thing to curly over there... It was really easy you know. Rose was so weak." Nathaniel looked at John for the last bit of his sentence, and smiled at the anger that flashed in his eyes. "So the human spiky hair is with dumb blondie and the fancy Time-Lord is with curly. Got it. Anything else I should know about?"

"Don't call her that," John mumbled under his breathe.

"What'd you say?" Nathaniel grinned a little, stopping at John's cell. He didn't reply. "I said, what did you say?" Still no reply. He entered Rose's cell and grabbed her arm, yanking her upwards to a standing position. "Spiky hair, what'd you fucking say or I'll hurt the girl?"

"I said don't call her that," John's voice was cold and deadly, the words piercing the air like knives. It was obvious to anyone that if he wasn't confined in a cell he would tear Nathaniel apart limb from single limb, gun or no gun.

"Which part? Dumb or blondie? Because first of all, she's dumb as a brick," The man flicked Rose on the head lightly, laughing when she just stared at him. "Second of all, she's definitely blonde." He ran his hand through her hair and took a deep breathe. John's breathe hitched and he stared at Nathaniel coldly. "Oh... Mr. John doesn't like that, does he? What do you think Rose?"

Nathaniel finally left her cell and John released the breathe he had been holding. "Listen, Nathaniel," River spoke up suddenly, "Just tell us what you want. We'll deliver."

"Oh, will you now? Well all we want is a little information..." The man walked over to River's cell and put his hands in the pocket like John did so often.

"Just tell us what on. I'll tell you whatever you want to know," River assured, knowing that they probably wouldn't be let go anyways.

"We want to know everything about the Doctor. The things he hasn't told even you, his wife." River's eyes widened a little in surprise at the last part. "Yes, we know you're his wife. We will learn every single detail of his very, very long life, and do you know how?" Nathaniel turned to face the Doctor slowly with his next words, "Because we can bring in all the people you love. We know every single one of them, well, the ones that are alive. Because you killed some of them, haven't you? And you grew too old for some... But Martha Jones? Donna Noble? Amelia and Rory Pond?" He turned back to River for the last two names.

River took one look at the Doctor and instantly saddened by the look on his face. It was one she had seen very few times before, a mix of desperation, guilt, and pure, complete sadness. "Stop it," She said to Nathaniel quickly.

"Stop what? Burrowing him in guilt? Sure, the Doctor can handle talking quite a lot, but can he really handle listening? Anyways... I'll be back with some more fun. See you all."

* * *

After Nathaniel was gone River was terrified to look at the Doctor. Eventually she risked one glance, and regretted it immediately. He was standing there with his hands by his sides, still red from the handcuffs, and his face was still stuck in that awful trap of guilt. His eyes had tears welled up in them, but River knew they wouldn't fall, for he'd rather regenerate than cry in front of her And she absolutely hated him for it.

John stared at Rose with a bit of hope. She was still standing up, and her mouth opened every once and a while as if she was trying to say something but couldn't quite get the words out. What had she said before? Be... Oh, how he wanted to know how that sentence was going to end.


	11. The Escape

Rose tried to move her mouth, but it wouldn't work. Whatever Nathaniel and his lackey Wyatt had done to her was still messing with her head, and she had to fight it. Her memories of John were fading slowly, and the feeling was burning like a fire. She knew that the pain would diminish if she gave into the strange drug, and completely forgot everything, but for his sake, she couldn't. The strange code she remembered hearing as they shoved her back to the cell was permanently embedded in her mind. B998UJ. What it meant, God knows, but it seemed important, and Rose was sure the Doctor or John would know what to do with it.

The look on his face was slowly killing her, the mixture of hope and desperation. If only she could talk, all she had to do was speak to him, and she wasn't even able. Stupid, stupid drugs. Stupid Nathaniel and Wyatt, stupid place, stupid everything. And poor, poor John.

"Doctor, what did they give her?" John demanded eventually, after the awkward silence that had been happening much too often lately.

"I don't know," The Doctor replied, sitting down on his bed and burrowing his face in his hands.

"Get some sleep, sweetie," River suggested, wanting more than anything to stroke his hair and comfort the poor Time-Lord.

"How can I get some sleep? You've seen what they did. Because of me! Always because of me!" He screamed the last two sentences, and his three friends were shocked by the surprising peek at the Doctor's emotions.

"You couldn't have prevented this," River said plainly.

"I could've tried," He looked up into her eyes as he repeated the lines that had been switched the last time they used them.

River stared at him, her eyes saying her words. She was beginning to feel a little claustrophobic from the small space, since at her usual cell she could escape any time she wanted. She peeked over at John and saw his eyes focused completely on Rose, as usual. The defeat could be felt in the room for all of them, the hopelessness. To the friends' displeasure, Nathaniel once again marched down the hallway with his creepy smile planted on his face.

"I'm here for Curly this time," He announced, standing in front of River's cell.

"Curly?" John snapped out of his trance and stared at the man.

"My nickname for Rose... Wait, no, Rose is the dumb one. This one's uh... It's an R, definitely a R. Riley?... No, no that's not it. River! It's River! I'm here for River!" Nathaniel's smile grew, proud of his achievement.

The Doctor gritted his teeth and watched as Nathaniel opened River's cell and yanked her out by the arm. The second she was released, River elbowed Nathaniel in the ribs and took his gun from its socket. He fell to the ground, moaning in pain, and immediately a stereotypical loud red alarm went off. She took the gloves from his hands and slipped them on messily and quickly, releasing Rose from her cell first, since she was next to hers. As soon as she reached for John's cell, she turned her head to see several men running down the hall, guns in their hands. River raised her gun and shot two times, grabbing Rose's hand and sprinting down the hall.

"I'm sorry! We'll come back for you!" She managed to shout as she half-carried Rose down the hall.

"She's good," John muttered a little before the guards opened his cell to inspect it.

"I know," The Doctor had a small smile on his face. If anyone could get out of anywhere, it was River with a gun.

* * *

River stole a glance back at Rose, whose expression hadn't changed since they had broken out of their cells. The marching of the men chasing them became more and more distant, but it wouldn't take very long to find them, as in most halls there were cameras. They kept sprinting, turning corner after corner, always with her gun raised. Eventually, they found a spiral staircase and practically crawled up it. Rose was getting harder and harder to keep with her, since the drugs had done unthinkable things to her mind.

At the top of the stairs, to their relief, was a metal door clearly labeled 'EXIT.' But as River banged on the door, it was apparent it was locked tightly. She felt her pocket quickly, no sonic screwdriver or any tool. After a few minutes of frustrated groaning and constant banging, they heard footsteps at the bottom of the stairs. River suddenly had an absolutely insane idea, and held Rose tightly to her side.

Then, she held the gun up to Rose's head.

* * *

The guards threw the Doctor and John out of their cells and began to pat them down quickly. "At least take me out to dinner first," The Doctor spat at Nathaniel, who was watching them and grinning.

"Wouldn't you love that. Now, where did Curly and Retard go?" The man spat back, raising an eyebrow at the Doctor's grin.

"How should I know?"

"I think you'd like to know, considering when we find her we'll cut off her fingers one by one. Then we'll go to Retard," Nathaniel walked towards John and put his finger under his chin. "Want to watch?"

"Shut up," The half-human said softly, his eyes straight ahead, not daring to look at Nathaniel.

"Then I'll take my handy-dandy knife and run it straight up her stomach, in between her breasts, all the way up to her forehead. Would you like that? I can make her naked for it, if you'd like. It'd be more fun."

John unwillingly swallowed slowly.

"Shut the fuck up." To Nathaniel's surprise, it wasn't John who spoke. It was the Doctor.

* * *

**A/N:** Please review! Prepare for an epic Doctor breakdown at the start of the next chapter.


	12. The Oncoming Storm

"What do you think you're doing?" Wyatt said when he reached River who was holding her stolen gun up to Rose's skull, right behind her ear. Sweat was dripping from their foreheads and the tension was tangible in the air as Rose stared at River. What was she doing?

"You need her, don't you? Alive. I'll shoot her in the brain, she'll be dead in a heartbeat if you touch me," River warned, pressing the gun further into Rose's head. Her other hand was on Rose's back, tracing the letters 'NO' over and over again. She could only hope Rose would notice.

Wyatt got a look of confusion on his face and he stared back at the guards. It was true, they did need Rose alive. What would Nathaniel do? "Looks like we have a draw, then," He stated slowly, lowering his gun a little and the guards followed his lead.

"I'm sure we can arrange a deal," River said smiling brightly, nodding her head towards the exit.

* * *

Nathaniel stared at the Doctor blankly. Honestly, he hadn't seen this coming. Sure, it was obvious the Doctor would have to snap at some point, but like this? And so soon? The Doctor walked straight up to Nathaniel and stared him blank in the eyes. He had heard some rumors about the Oncoming Storm. For the longest time he considered them just silly tales, until right now. This Time-Lord's eyes meant death. Nathaniel stole a glance at the guards and noticed none of them were pulling the Doctor back, they were probably too afraid. He didn't really blame them.

"You imprison me, that's fine," The Doctor began, talking rapidly. "I don't give a damn. But you imprison Rose, River, and John. That's where we have a problem." The Doctor turned to look at John then turned back to Nathaniel and whispered. "If you think you can just come into my life and torture the people I love, you're wrong. If you think you can just talk to John and describe to him how you'll kill Rose, you're wrong. Most importantly if you think I'll let ANY of them be harmed, you're wrong. And guess what? In my dictionary, wrong means dead."

Nathaniel listened intently, slowly losing his cool. But he couldn't show that, of course he couldn't show that. He stared back at the Doctor, returning the same confident glare, and whispered, "Imagine the blood dripping down from River's head onto the rest of her body... Drip. Drip. Drip."

That was when the Doctor lost it. He threw himself at Nathaniel, wrestling him to the ground. The guards immediately jumped in to tear the Doctor away from the man, but the Doctor got in several hard punches beforehand. Nathaniel was bleeding from the nose and had what looked like a pre-mature black eye, and a very angry glare. "Put them in their cells!" He commanded, waving his hand. "And for Christ's sake where are the other two? Bloody Wyatt, I'll kill him..."

* * *

"Obviously I want you to let them go," River stated.

"If we let all of you go there's no point in keeping the girl alive for us," Wyatt replied cautiously, raising an eyebrow. He wasn't supposed to be negotiating with the prisoners, of course. He was supposed to show them that they were in charge, however, at the moment, it was obvious to any stranger that River was in charge here.

"Then... I'll release her if you cure her. And I want information. Lots of it."

Wyatt's eyes widened and he looked back at the guards as if for approval. He pulled out his walkie-talkie and pressed a button before speaking into it, "Nathaniel. We have a bit of a problem."

"If they've escaped I'll boil your eyes," A raspy voice replied.

"Are you hurt? And they haven't escaped, but... You should come up here," The man said, his eyes still fixated on River. He had lowered his gun completely since the guards behind him were covering her. His legs were beginning to get tired from standing on the spiral staircase and running around for so long, and he realized how out of shape he was.

"Be right there."

"Looks like we're waiting a bit," Wyatt sighed.

"May I sit?" River asked randomly, nodding towards the stairs. When Wyatt nodded, she carefully sat her and Rose down, being sure to keep the gun next to Rose's head. If they were both going to die, why not be comfortable?

After a few awkward minutes Wyatt sat too, though the guards remained standing. "You'll never win, you know," He said quietly.

"What was that?"

"You'll never win. You, her, the Doctor, that John bloke. You've got no chance."

"Oh, honey, I don't think you've met my husband officially."

* * *

"You idiot," Nathaniel glared at the Doctor from outside his cell.

"I prefer genius," The Doctor mumbled in response.

"Say that when two body bags come down this hallway."

"Sure, but you won't be able to hear me from in the bag you know," He smiled.

Nathaniel just shot him another glare and answered the call from Wyatt on his talkie.

John contemplated on his white bed that he was beginning to get used to. He hadn't used it very much, and it wasn't extremely comfortable, but not too bad either. The sheets weren't made (What's the point in making it?), and the pillows were lumpy. However, he laid down on it anyways and stared up at the ceiling. The Doctor had lost his cool earlier, the exact thing that he didn't want everyone else to do. What a hypocrite, John thought. He pushed that idea aside and began picturing Rose again. The hell she must be going through. If Wyatt or Nathaniel killed her, he'd tear them both limb from limb without a second thought. Luckily, he hadn't heard any shots since their escape. Maybe they made it out?

Eventually both of the men resorted to putting their ears as close to the glass as they dared to hear the walkie-talkie conversation between their captors. Even with Time-Lord and half Time-Lord senses, neither of them could hear it.

* * *

**A/N: **Please review! What do you think will happen to River and Rose? :o


	13. Gaining Information

After what seemed like days, Nathaniel finally marched up the stairs to see the strange scene in front of him. River was sitting casually, one hand supporting her chin while the other firmly held a gun to Rose's head. Rose was sitting next to her, still with a blank expression. Wyatt and the guards behind him were also sitting, checking their watches and shrugging at each other. "WHAT IS HAPPENING?!" Nathaniel demanded, an ice pack pressed to his black eye and a small gauze in his mouth.

"What happened to you?" Wyatt said, standing up immediately and urging the guards to do so too.

"Never mind that, what happened here? What is she doing?" He gestured towards River, the exasperation obvious in his voice. What kind of people is he working with here?

"She threatened to shoot Rose, and wants information and a cure in exchange for the both of them back in custody."

"Who cares if blondie dies? Less people to look after," Nathaniel mumbled, scratching his arm.

Wyatt's eyes flickered over to River and Rose before his voice dropped to a whisper, "Sir... I don't think our superiors would be too happy if she died."

"Oh, you're absolutely right. We need her for that half-human freak. Hm... This _is_ a tough situation. What kind of information are we talking about?"

"Who you work for, what you want, and..." River contemplated for a second, "Where we are."

"If I refuse?" He narrowed his eyebrows at her. As much as he wasn't supposed to, he was honestly starting to like River Song.

"She dies, of course."

"I'll answer two questions with no antidote," Nathaniel retorted, folding his arms across his chest.

"Three questions with antidote."

"One question with antidote."

River bit her lip, this was a tough situation. There was no way on Earth she'd ever shoot Rose, of course, but Nathaniel and Wyatt didn't know that. For all they knew she was a mad lady. "Two questions with antidote, take it or leave it."

Nathaniel groaned a little, looking back at Wyatt for support, who just shrugged. "Deal. Pick your questions."

"Who you work for, I want specific names, not just the Silence, and what you want," She said immediately. Sure, where they were was important and all, but once they escaped it would be simple to find that out.

"Paul Van Statten and information about the Doctor," He replied simply, pulling a vial out of his jacket and tossing it to River carelessly. "There."

Wyatt began to move towards Rose and River when River raised her hand, "Wait until she drinks it and gets better."

Rose drank the suspicious looking purple liquid desperately, swallowing three times hard. After a mere thirty seconds, she slumped unconscious into River's arms with a quiet sigh. "When she wakes up, she'll be better, you have my word," Nathaniel assured her, nodding for River to put down the gun.

"We stay here until she wakes up and is cured. Your word means nothing to me," River stated in reply, staring Nathaniel straight in the eyes.

He raised his hands defensively and sat down on the steps again.

This would take a while.

* * *

"What's taking everyone so long?" John said, wiping his forehead with exasperation. Why was he just now sweating so profusely?

"Rassilon knows," The Doctor replied from his cell.

"Maybe they escaped."

"They didn't."

"How do you know that?" The half Time-Lord asked from his bed, his voice muffled a little from the pillow.

"The people who imprisoned us are smart. They wouldn't be able to escape that easy. But maybe they did something that will improve our situation here." The full Time-Lord said, though his voice was filled with very little hope.

"I'm uh... Sorry, for what Nathaniel said to you earlier."

The Doctor didn't reply, instead his hand reached to his arm where he felt a little bruise from where Nathaniel had pushed him away. His thoughts shifted to River, and damn his Time-Lord mind, he pictured realistic scenarios of a body bag going down the hallway... Just a little blonde curl peering out, Nathaniel chuckling as he passed. River's deteriorated body, covered in scars from old adventures and fresh, bleeding wounds from this one. He ran to the corner of his cell and vomited for a few seconds before walking back to the bed and laying down, burying himself in the blankets.

"You okay?" John said, then instantly regretted it. Of course the Doctor was not okay.

* * *

When Rose finally came to, she backed away into River's arms at the sight of Nathaniel and Wyatt peering at her. "Feeling better?" River asked with concern heavy in her voice.

Rose swallowed and nodded quickly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks."

The two women stood up and River slowly placed her gun on the ground. "You can take us back now."

Wyatt nodded and led them back to their cells where they quietly entered. The second John saw Rose he yelled, "Rose! Are you okay? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm alright, John, don't worry," Rose said in between coughs, giving him her best fake smile.

John didn't look convinced.

"River, are you alright?" The Doctor demanded when River entered her cell after Rose.

"I'm fine. Got some information."

"What's the information? Anything good?" John asked her.

"Ever heard of a Paul Van Statten?"

* * *

**A/N:** Sorry for the shortish chapter! I'm putting up 'Toying With A Time-Lord' tonight too since I'll be super busy tomorrow. Please tell me what you think in the review section rightttt there. VVV


	14. Night Habits

"Van Statten?" Rose, the Doctor, and John all inquired at the same time, their eyes lighting up.

"They're working for Paul Van Statten. A high-up member of the Silence, I'm presuming. I'm also guessing you all have met him?..." River looked up and saw the Doctor's shocked stare.

"Paul... That's not right, his name was Henry," Rose reminded them, now pacing her cell, a bad habit she had picked up from John.

"Perhaps he's an ancestor," The half Time-Lord suggested while copying Rose's pace in his own cell.

"Think he remembers you?" River replied, not shocked that the Doctor had met this man's relatives. Was there anyone he _hadn't_ met at this point of his life? The Doctor nodded and ran a hand through his hair, not replying. "And I'm guessing you made your charming impact."

Rose stifled a laugh at this and the Doctor and John mumbled an incoherent "Oi!"

"He was a man obsessed with alien artifacts and belongings, he even had a live alien in containment... A Dalek."

River nodded slowly, taking in the information. "So we got some information, and Rose is cured of whatever they did to her. Can we call it a night?"

* * *

When all the friends were sound asleep in bed, (It wasn't like they had a way to prepare for night or anything, although the lights did turn off when they all decided to sleep, most likely due to Nathaniel's kindness) the only sound that could be heard was Rose's soft snoring. However, a mere hour into the night, the Doctor was jolted awake from a nightmare. His breaths quickened and his eyes flashed open, sweat across his forehead and down his neck to the point where it was dripping.

He stood up from his bed and tried to shove the images of the Time War away from his mind, as well as any thoughts of River in a body bag. Looking over at the cell across from him, he could see her blonde curls peering out from underneath the covers that were brought up to her forehead, the way she always slept.

He could see a peaceful smile rested on her face when she adjusted herself under the covers and the Doctor wanted to break his own neck. Why did he have to be the person to take that beautiful smile away? Why had he gotten them all trapped here? Stupid, stupid, stupid. This could have been prevented in a thousand different ways. A hundred billion ways. If he had just stopped to _think_ then-

"Can't sleep?" River said, standing up and staring at him.

"Nope," He whispered back before sitting cross-legged on the floor directly behind the glass. "I wish I could touch you right now."

She raised an eyebrow as if challenging him, "Really?"

Instead of returning her flirtatious grin he sighed with a light exasperation, "I don't mean it like that, really. I just want to hold your hand right now," His voice cracked a little as he realized how out of character this was more him.

Had he ever really, truly told River she was beautiful?

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I, uh, don't know what Nathaniel told you or did to you while I was gone, but I'm really sorry," Her eyes flickered to the ground.

"How did you know he did anything?"

"Bruises on you that weren't there before... And, if I'm honest, even this glass can't block out that smell of vomit," She squinted up her nose and he chuckled a little.

"Sorry about that," He stated simply. "You should go to bed, you need sleep."

She rolled her eyes at that, "You need it worse than I do."

"What? No I do-"

"Doctor," River groaned, sitting behind the glass, mirroring him. "Look at yourself. You're an absolute wreck. Get some sleep and pull yourself together. If I could go over there and comfort you I would but... Just imagine it, okay?"

The Doctor did just that, and he slept soundly and dreamlessly for the first time in a while.

* * *

Three hours into the same night, having easily slept through River and the Doctor's quiet conversation, John woke up from a similar nightmare. His dreams had never rotated around the Time War, seeing as it was a second-hand memory and wasn't so important. Instead most of his nighttime interruptions revolved around Rose and his constant worries for her.

As soon as they had moved in together, she had learned about the nightmares. Every time he had one she could tell and would wake up immediately, putting her hand on his temple and letting his mind know she was there and that she would always be there. Sometimes part of the nightmare leaked into her mind through this telepathy, but she never seemed to mind.

But this time there was no touching and no comfort as he rolled out of bed and shook uncontrollably. He needed to calm down immediately before it became a problem, he knew that, so he used the only solution he could think of.

"Rose?" He whispered to her cell.

"Mmm?" Rose replied softly into her pillow, not fully awake.

"I..." John swallowed and scratched his neck. "Had a nightmare."

Like a good wife, that caught Rose's attention. She got out of bed and stared at him witb all the sympathy she could put into one gaze. "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shrugged a little, however Rose knew this meant yes so she nodded, urging him to speak to her and tell her about his dream.

"You died... And it was his fault," John said under his breath, nodding at the Doctor's cell to his right. "And I was so mad, so, so angry, Rose. I've never been that angry. So first I screamed at him and he just kind of took it at first, you know? But that made me even angrier, because he needed to reply to me, he couldn't just accept the fact that he had done it. So I hit him and asked him to talk to me. He still didn't. And I hit him and hit him until..." His voice broke out into sobs and Rose wanted more than anything to go and hug him.

"It wasn't real," She assured him gently, "I'm alive."

"But it could be the future, Rose," John practically growled at her.

The Doctor lay in his bed wide awake, hearing every word. And the Oncoming Storm was terrified.

* * *

**A/N: **Reviews make the Oncoming Storm less terrified! :D


	15. Knives Aren't Fun

The following morning was dreary like any other, only this time it was made even more dreary with a visit from Nathaniel and Wyatt.

"How's that eye healing up?" River said to him, smiling brightly.

"Shut up, Song," Nathaniel murmured in her direction, giving her a mean glare.

"Oh, we've gone from Curly to Song now, have we? What an improvement."

"Shut up or I'll hurt your boyfriend," He said in reply, clearly not ready to take any crap today. "We're moving all of you today. You're going to a new home, don't worry, you'll most definitely enjoy it."

The man waved over a few guards who opened each of their cells individually, handcuffing them and shoving them down the hallway. Even handcuffed, Rose tried to walk as close to John as she could manage, desperate just to hold his hand. The Doctor defiantly didn't argue as the handcuffs were put on him, and didn't utter a word as Nathaniel himself delivered him roughly towards his friends. The group was led down to another white room, about the size of all four of their cells put together, and each of them was put in a chair in the corner. As soon as his handcuffs were gone River rubbed her eyes desperately, the white was burning them. Would it kill them to afford some paint, seeing as they could afford fancy electrocuting glass and such?

"Now, before you all desperately attempt to break these ropes," Nathaniel said as he tied up the Doctor to his chair, "The only entrance and exit to this room is made of the same glass as your cells. And a few of you know that that stuff hurts like hell. The entire purpose of this movement is to make it easier for us to get what we want, so don't disappoint, because trust me, we can make it a hell of a lot worse than this stuffy room.

Wyatt, who had just entered the room, looked around at the four tied up adults and frowned a little. If he was honest, he hated this job so far. The bosses were terrifying and Nathaniel wasn't a dream either. River had been pretty chill when he had seen her. Well, very chill, she wasn't what he had expected at all. The way she had simply held a gun to Rose's head and threatened him, gaining information _and_ curing her friend... Damn. It was genius. His eyes flickered over to her, she was sitting up straight and staring down the man who was tying her up. He recognized the man as Riley. Riley had four bloody kids, what would they think if they saw him tying up an innocent woman right now? Innocent woman... Wyatt shook his head quickly. River Song couldn't possibly be innocent. She had to be here for some reason. He looked over at the Doctor next. Right, she was here for him. But even that Doctor bloke didn't seem so bad. The Doctor had given Nathaniel a black eye, that had to be counted for.

"Look, here's the thing," Nathaniel began what the group could already tell would be a long and boring speech. The man waved away the guards except for Wyatt and they shut the door behind them. "We're not getting this information fast enough. And our employers..."

"The Silence," Rose added politely with a smile.

Nathaniel made a strange grunting noise as if in agreement-but-not-agreement, and continued. "They're not happy. So, to speed up the process... I have here," He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, sparkling silver blade. "It's named the Catalyst. Some nerdy scientist made the name, not me. But, do you know what a catalyst does?" The man brought the knife towards Rose slowly, stopping it under her chin. She stared him in the eyes bravely, not twitching a bit. "Speeds things up."

And the knife touched her.

The scream was quiet but still managed to convey all the fear she was currently feeling. The knife dug deep into the bottom of her chin, and John could barely be heard over River's loud gasps and the Doctor struggling against his bonds. "What information do you want? Please, just tell me! What do you want?!" He begged.

"What's the Doctor's name?" Nathaniel rasped out, digging the knife further into the bottom of Rose's chin before pulling it away and placing it on her forearm.

"Don't tell him!" Rose shrieked, gasping for breath.

After another minute of desperate screaming and struggling, Rose's arm was covered in blood. Nathaniel had drawn a little trail from the tip of her shoulder to her thumb, blood oozing all over as she fell in and out of consciousness. Wyatt looked absolutely disgusted, the Doctor noted, and couldn't make eye contact with Rose or any of the others for that matter. John was the worst of it all, though. He gasped for breath and begged and pleaded on his knees.

Nathaniel pulled Wyatt to the door quickly and whispered to him, "John is the weakest and he knows the name. We'll break him. Rose doesn't know it, the rest do. Got it?"

Wyatt nodded dumbly and swallowed, "How?"

"We'll use..." The square-shouldered man looked around the room and frowned. "We can't use Rose anymore, that won't work. Maybe we shouldn't go for John... What about River? Because I doubt the Doctor will crack."

"Not River," The other man said much too quickly, his eyes darting towards her direction as she spoke comforting words to Rose and remained absolutely calm.

"What, why not?"

"She's strong. Just... Let me talk to them? I have an idea," Wyatt pleaded, staring Nathaniel in the eyes when the man gave him a suspicious look. "It'll be my chance to prove myself, come on!"

Finally, Nathaniel shrugged and left the room, leaving Wyatt with the four friends. "Listen, you guys," Wyatt began awkwardly, not sure how to be as confident as his boss. "They just want his name. Everything will tone down if you just give me his name... Please, I don't want to hurt any of you."

The Doctor's head snapped up. This was his chance. Here was a man who could be persuaded, and persuasion was the Doctor's forte. "Then don't hurt us. You have a choice, you know."

"I really don't," The man protested, looking down at his feet.

"You do, let me tell you your choices," The Doctor begged, his expression sympathetic instead of angry or frustrated.

Wyatt glanced behind him before checking his walkie-talkie quickly. "I'll give you five minutes."

* * *

**A/N:** Happy Halloween! You should check out the Halloween fic "Trick-Or-Treat" I just made, I promise you won't regret it! Did any of you guys dress up or trick-or-treat? Please review and tell me what you thought of the chapter as well!


	16. What You Can Do In Five Minutes

**A/N:** Hi guys! I'm super sorry this is two days late; I've been sick and really busy at the same time so I haven't had enough energy to write, but now I'm just plain sick and have nothing else to do.

* * *

If anyone could break them free from a top-notch prison in five minutes, it was the Doctor.

After Wyatt had given him five minutes his brain had set to work, thinking through every possible way to convince him to free him and his friends. However, it was still evident that Nathaniel was waiting outside. Wyatt stared at the Doctor, waiting to see what he had to say. Rumors about the Time-Lord have been spread across the galaxy time after time, and considering this entire facility's point was to capture him the Doctor was sure that Wyatt had heard a thing or two. And they probably weren't good things.

After a few moments of silence Wyatt spoke, "Well?"

Four sets of eyes stared at the Doctor who stopped struggling against his bonds and concentrated. "I can tell you why you should let us go."

A small smile rested on Wyatt's face, he of all people would hear one of the many famous Doctor speeches. "Then tell me."

"Let me start by introducing myself. I'm the Doctor," The Doctor grinned a little while saying this. "I'd shake your hand but I'm a little tied up. Ha, tied up, get it? Anyways... You know that the Doctor isn't necessarily my first name, I would call it my real name, though, and here's why." He swallowed a little and looked at Rose, who was staring at him curiously. "On Gallifrey, you're given quite a few names. First, you get your real name, the most important one... My name was tarnished, ruined, soiled, whatever word fits your fancy. Then, I had a nickname, which I always kind of hated. But then, when you grow up... You make a promise."

He let this set in for a second, and confusion washed over everyones' expressions. Wyatt was still listening though and not making any sign of going to the door and leaving, so that was a plus. "And, well, your promise becomes what people call you. I had ruined my first name, so I made my promise to help people... Doctor, someone who helps people. Sick people, injured people, that was my goal... So now I bet you're wondering how I ended up here, eh?"

The room was still silent so he continued. "To keep that goal, I had to do nasty things. After my home was... Well, destroyed, I forgot that promise, that name. I didn't care much for anyone or anything after it happened. Sure, I didn't go around murdering people purposefully all over the place, but if someone died I was... Jaded to it, I suppose. That leads me to my introduction of Rose Tyler." He glanced over at Rose who gave him a small, supportive smile. "She changed me for the better. Gave me a reason to be alive, really. She taught me that not everything ends in death or destruction, and you just have to see through the sad bits of life to get to the happy bits. That leads me to my introduction of John... John is the half-human clone of my tenth regeneration, basically the one before this body."

"Contrary to what you might believe, he's nothing like me at all. In fact, we really couldn't be more different. I couldn't tell Rose what he could, he's a thousand times braver than me and always will be." His eyes flickered to John who mirrored Rose's smile. "He ended up living happily with Rose and they both deserve it, utterly and completely. But then, that leads me to River..."

River raised an eyebrow and smirked, as if challenging him to talk about her. "I met River after Rose and John went to the parallel universe. When I met her she knew more about me than anyone else. Probably knew more about me than I did, and I'm not going to lie, that terrified me. But then I came to realize that she's one of the most fantastic women I've ever met, and I swore to myself I would try to be worthy of her. And she thinks I am, so that satisfies me."

The Doctor looked back towards Wyatt whose expression had softened if just a little, and spoke more. "Your five minutes are up," Wyatt said, not making any move for the door.

"I'm almost done," The Doctor assured him. "So the reason you should let us go is because Rose, River, and John all changed me, and now I'm not afraid to admit that I am a good person. I wasn't before, but now I am. Not to mention that Rose and John have a nice, happy life to get back to, and that River's archaeological team is waiting for her. If you help us escape, I can personally assure you you won't be harmed by them. Think back on the things you've heard of me, don't you think I can manage your protection?"

Wyatt glanced around the room and swallowed, "I'll let you go. But I swear if this is some stupid trick th-"

"No trick! None at all!"

He reached into his belt and pulled out a tiny knife, putting it in the Doctor's hand. The Time-Lord started cutting immediately but Wyatt put up a hand to stop him. "Let me bring Nathaniel in first, let him see nothing is going wrong. Hide the knife in your hand, careful not to cut yourself. He won't look for it or anything. I'll come back tonight to help you escape, cut yourself free around midnight... Wait..."

"I'll know what time it is," The Doctor assured him before he could ask.

Wyatt shrugged and walked out of the room, giving one last wink to them before he left.


End file.
